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Youngs believes series win is their reward

Scrum-half Ben Youngs said their series whitewash over Australia is a reward for the hard work of the squad and payback for the disappointment from last year's World Cup.

England beat the Wallabies 44-40 in Sydney to cap a historic series win 'down under' and Youngs gave credit to the whole 32-man squad.

The series whitewash also included a first-ever win for England against Australia in Brisbane in the opening Test.

"It’s a reward for all of the hard work that’s gone on over the last five weeks or so,” said Youngs.

"Our reward is a 3-0 series win in Australia which is incredible so I’m very proud to be a part of this like everyone else in the squad.

"It’s been a huge squad effort and there’re a lot of guys that have been training so hard but haven’t been given the opportunity to play.

"They prepped us to give us the best opportunity to perform at each weekend so huge credit goes to them as well.”

England recorded their highest ever score against the Wallabies in Test match history and Youngs could hardly keep a smile from his face.

"There’s one goal for us and that’s to become World champions," he added.

"I’m on a bit of a cloud nine at the minute but I think it’ll sink in what we’ve achieved over the next couple of days. It’s been a yoyo year and I’m just so happy for a lot of the boys who have experienced some lows in an England shirt because now we have a high."

"There’s one goal for us and that’s to become World champions in 2019 and we’ve taken another step towards that tonight."

Despite conceding 40 points, England captain Dylan Hartley said he is proud of the team for making history in Australia after recording their ninth straight win under his captaincy.

"We still haven’t played our perfect game yet, there’s still a lot to work on, but I think we can all be proud of what we’ve achieved ‘down under’," said Hartley.

"We put everything into it and it was the last 80 minutes of our season so I’m really proud of the guys the way they’ve conducted themselves the last few weeks.

That’s 3-0, we’ve made some history and so there’s a lot of pride in the team today."

These three victories on tour have doubled the number of England wins against the Wallabies in Australia and Hartley says the squad can enjoy some time off to recover.

"I think we’ll enjoy this for now, the boys have got five weeks off and when we meet up again we’ll reset our goals and get focused and go again. I’d just like to thank Australia for having us, the boys have loved the country and the hospitality has been outstanding and thank you to everyone back at home."